James 4:4 (DBY)

Passage

Adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore is minded to be [the] friend of the world is constituted enemy of God.

Nearby Context

James 4:2 Ye lust and have not: ye kill and are full of envy, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war; ye have not because ye ask not.

James 4:3 Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask evilly, that ye may consume [it] in your pleasures.

James 4:4 Adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore is minded to be [the] friend of the world is constituted enemy of God.

James 4:5 Think ye that the scripture speaks in vain? Does the Spirit which has taken his abode in us desire enviously?

James 4:6 But he gives more grace. Wherefore he says, God sets himself against [the] proud, but gives grace to [the] lowly.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "world", "adulteresses", "friendship", "enmity", "whoever", "therefore", and "minded". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "world" and "adulteresses", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Ye ask and receive not because ye..." into verse 5's "Think ye that the scripture speaks in...", so "world" and "adulteresses" belong inside that flow. In James context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "world" and "adulteresses" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.